TY - JOUR
T1 - Delay of routine health care during the COVID-19 pandemic
T2 - A theoretical model of individuals’ risk assessment and decision making
AU - Shukla, Prakriti
AU - Lee, Myeong
AU - Whitman, Samantha A.
AU - Pine, Kathleen H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/8
Y1 - 2022/8
N2 - Delaying routine health care has been prevalent during the COIVD-19 pandemic. Macro-level data from this period reveals that U.S. patients under-utilized routine health care services such as primary care visits, preventative tests, screenings, routine optometry care, dental appointments, and visits for chronic disease management. Yet, there is a gap in research on how and why patients understand risks associated with seeking or delaying routing health care during an infectious disease pandemic. Our research addresses this gap based on semi-structured interviews with 40 participants living in regions across the United States. By building upon Unger-Saldaña and Infante-Castañeda's model of delayed health care, we extend this model by articulating how health care delays happen during an infectious disease pandemic. Specifically, we show how perceptions of uncertainty and subjective risk assessments shape people's decisions to delay routine health care while they operate at two levels, internal and external to one's social bubble, interacting with each other.
AB - Delaying routine health care has been prevalent during the COIVD-19 pandemic. Macro-level data from this period reveals that U.S. patients under-utilized routine health care services such as primary care visits, preventative tests, screenings, routine optometry care, dental appointments, and visits for chronic disease management. Yet, there is a gap in research on how and why patients understand risks associated with seeking or delaying routing health care during an infectious disease pandemic. Our research addresses this gap based on semi-structured interviews with 40 participants living in regions across the United States. By building upon Unger-Saldaña and Infante-Castañeda's model of delayed health care, we extend this model by articulating how health care delays happen during an infectious disease pandemic. Specifically, we show how perceptions of uncertainty and subjective risk assessments shape people's decisions to delay routine health care while they operate at two levels, internal and external to one's social bubble, interacting with each other.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Decision making
KW - Delayed health care
KW - Risk assessment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133814568&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85133814568&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115164
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115164
M3 - Article
C2 - 35816834
AN - SCOPUS:85133814568
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 307
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
M1 - 115164
ER -